"What children's book changed the way you see the world?" Horn Book Magazine editor and children's book publisher Anita Silvey asked this question of more than a hundred respected and admired figures, including authors Sherman Alexie, Judy Blume, Gregory Maguire, Maurice Sendak, and David McCullough; actors Kirk Douglas and Kathy Bates; entrepreneurs Steve Forbes and Steve Wozniak; political figures Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Lynda Johnson Robb; and illustrators Andrew Wyeth and Wendell Minor. Their enthusiastic and illuminating answers are presented in this browsable, entertaining reading guide, along with illustrations and excerpts from each book and Silvey's notes on its publishing history.

"Over 100 noteworthy figures, from Ursula K. Le Guin to Jay Leno, convey lessons learned from specific children's books in this affirming collaboration.... The divergent articulations on the impact of such stories as The Secret Garden ('What was the gift of this magical book?' muses Katherine Paterson. 'Then I realize that it was wonder') and Little House in the Big Woods ('The romance of the family's wanderlust and their almost unflagging good spirits ... shone from the pages,' writes Emily Bazelon of Slate.com) create a moving patchwork message about the transformative powers of reading."—Publishers Weekly